title: Validity of BMI, hip and waist circumferences as surrogate measures of obesity in a cohort of Sri Lankan premenopausal women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  BMI, hip and waist circumferences (HC and WC) are being used as clinical surrogates of obesity. Unceratinities exist regarding the cut-off values, which are recommonded for Western countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We conducted a study to determine cut-off values for Sri Lankan women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Healthy premenopausal women (n=128) aged 25 to 50 years were selected randomly, from local MOH area and stratified into four groups (32 in each) according to their BMI. Those who were pregnant, breast feeding, or on long-term medications were excluded. Body weight and height, hip circumference (HC) and waist circumference (WC) were measured, using standard protocols. Lean and fat mass, were measured by DXA and percentage FM (%FM) was calculated (FM/body weight x100). Women with %FM> 30% were considered obese.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BMI moderately correlated (r = 0.41) with %FM and BMI accounted for only 16% (r2 = 0.16) of %FM variation. Regression equations were used to estimate the cut-off values that corresponded to %FM of 30. Those cut-off values for BMI, WC, and HC were 24.4 Kg/m2, 92 cm, and 78 cm, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BMI, WC and HC values of 24 kg/m2, 92 cm and 78 cm can be considered appropriate cut-off values when detecting central obesity in premenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. nanajeevan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nanayakkara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lekamwasam
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001942:Breast Feeding; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis; D055105:Waist Circumference